Fulton
County Jail, Fulton, Georgia
July 18, 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County can't seem to resolve a $4 million deal to provide
food service to county jail inmates, a contract marked by allegations of
corruption and employee misconduct. The board failed to end the
controversy again Wednesday with a deadlocked 3-3 vote on a proposal to
keep the current company, Trinity Services Group, for another year.
Commissioners, who have discussed the deal at length half a dozen times
in the past several months, didn't bother Wednesday. They simply took
the latest vote with no discussion. The deal has gone through several
attempts to bid and rebid with three main groups seeking the work all
being ranked No. 1 at different times. The controversy has generated bid
complaints and lawsuits from spurned bidders that continue. Evaluators
recommended Trinity in the latest round of bids completed June 15 over
teams from Gourmet/Aramark and Meat Masters. Meat Masters has filed suit
challenging the bids and the process and seeking award of the deal. The
company's lawyer, Charles Mathis, accused county staff of improperly
manipulating bid results to keep Meat Masters from winning the bid.
County attorney O.V. Brantley said he looked into the allegations but
found no reason to call in criminal investigators. The third bidder,
Gourmet-Aramark Correctional Services, also says it was cheated out of
the contract. The company filed a formal bid protest with the county.
The firm also alleged collusion involving the other two bidders because
Meat Masters filed a bid but also was included as a subcontractor on the
winning bid by Trinity.March 22, 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County will take a step back and ask more companies to bid on
a contract to feed inmates at the Fulton County Jail. Fulton's County
Commission voted unanimously Wednesday for a 90-day deferral on a vote
to hire a food service provider for the jail and satellite facilities.
County purchasing officials are to use the delay to advertise the
contract in national publications that cater to the corrections
industry. Commissioners weren't pleased by a staff recommendation to
hire Gourmet-ARAMARK Correctional Services, which the county fired two
years ago. Some commissioners drilled into the county's purchasing
guidelines because they give a big bonus to companies that have an
office in Fulton County. Commissioner Robb Pitts said Gourmet-ARAMARK
would have won the contract even if all three bidders had scored the
same in every category but one — location. For the sole reason that it
was the only company with a physical address in Fulton County, the
company outscored its competition and won the staff's recommendation,
Pitts said. Chairman John Eaves said he didn't understand why
Gourmet-ARAMARK got the nod when its $4 million bid was the highest of
the three that were submitted. It was about $1 million higher than the
low bidder. Eaves made the motion to defer the vote. Felicia
Strong-Whitaker, a deputy director of the county's purchasing
department, said the county's purchasing guidelines state that cost
makes up 25 points of the formula used to recommend a company for this
type of contract. A company gets an automatic 10 points if it has an
office in Fulton County, she said.
February 21, 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amid allegations of bid rigging and corruption, Fulton County
commissioners agreed Wednesday to rebid a lucrative food service
contract at the county jail. County Attorney O.V. Brantley said
Wednesday she's launched a probe into the allegations, but Commissioner
Robb Pitts said any investigation should be turned over to state or
federal agents. "Someone seems hell bent on giving the contract to this
firm," Pitts said. "I'm going to find out why.... This is serious
stuff...This needs to be investigated, not in house but by someone
outside." The Trinity Services Group won the original contract in 2005,
but it expired more than a year ago. When it was rebid in December,
Trinity received the recommendation, even though it was the highest
bidder of the three, according to county records. One of the firms that
was rejected filed a formal protest with the county, and the other filed
a letter, also with the county, claiming employees were pressured to
change bid evaluations to ensure that the deal stayed with Trinity.
Charles Mathis Jr. said his client, Meat Masters Inc., was the rightful
winner of the contract with a bid that was $850,000 lower than Trinity's
$4.1 million offer. They only failed, Mathis said in his letter, because
county employees were pressured to doctor the bid evaluations. "Meat
Masters should legitimately be awarded the contract," Mathis wrote. Two
county employees, Sgt. Chandra Hall and former Chief Jailer Charles
Felton, provided written statements to Meat Masters that they had been
directed to change the contract evaluations to boost the results for
Trinity. The Board of Commissioners has copies of the letters, which
were also obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Both said they
were threatened that if they went before commissioners with Meat Masters
as the bidder they would be hammered. The other bidder, Gourmet-Aramark
Correctional Services, has alleged collusion involving the other two
bidders since Meat Masters was included as a subcontractor on the
winning bid by Trinity. Lawyer Michael Coleman, who served as hearing
officer for the complaint, issued a ruling on Feb. 16 that recommended
Fulton rebid the deal. "Due to the questions raised by the county's
rejection of Gourmet-ARAMARK's proposal and the collusion claims
involving Trinity and Meat Masters, the appropriate remedy is to cancel
the current RFP and re-issue a new RFP," Coleman found.
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